The ONS publishes these mid-year estimates every May/June, and they show populations for every local authority across the UK. And, as the ONS data is coded very clearly, it's possible to compare it to previous years, going back to 1991. We wanted to see what would happen if you compared the latest figures (which cover 2009) with ten years ago. That data is below. If you go to the ONS site you can also download much more data, including age breakdowns and different geographical choices.

The data presents a fascinating picture of changing Britain. The key points are:

• The UK's population is now 61.8m - up 393,700 on the previous year and 5% since 1999• In 38 local authorities across the UK the population is declining, not rising• The worst-hit places are those where deaths have outnumbered - or are equal to - births (the 'natural change' column of the spreadsheet is basically births minus deaths). In order the fastest-declining populations are: Inverclyde, Belfast, Burnley, Sefton and West Dunbartonshire• The population is rising fastest in inner-London boroughs such as Westminster, Camden and Tower Hamlets. Tower Hamlets was the fastest-growing borough last year in terms of numbers of people - it increased by 7,900, 3.5%, and was 21.3% up on 1999• Manchester had the highest net migration last year - 6,800 people. That's more than the city's births and deaths put together